A submarine communications cable is a cable laid beneath the sea to carry telecommunications between countries.
The first submarine communications cables carried telegraphy traffic. Subsequent generations of cables carried first telephony traffic, then data communications traffic. All modern cables use fiber optic technology to carry digital payloads, which are then used to carry telephone traffic as well as Internet and private data traffic.
As of 2002, submarine cables link all the world's continents except Antarctica.
It is designed to factor out general communications cable issues from transatlantic / telephone / telegraph special cases
History of submarine communications cables
The first submarine communications cable was a telegraph cable laid between England and France in August 1850 by the Anglo-French Telegraph Company . In 1852, a cable laid by the Submarine Telegraph Company linked London to Paris for the first time.
The first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858 (Cyrus Field), but was in operation for only a month. Subsequent attempts in 1865 and 1866 were more successful. While laying a transatlantic telephone cable was seriously considered from the 1920s, a number of technological advances were required for cost-efficient telecommunications that did not arrive until the 1940s.
In 1942, Siemens Brothers , in conjunction with the British National Physical Laboratory adapted submarine communications cable technology to create the World's first submarine oil pipeline in Operation Pluto.
TAT-1 (Transatlantic No. 1) was the first transatlantic telephone cable system. Between 1955 and 1956, cable was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland. It was inaugurated on September 25 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels.
Technology of submarine communications cables
to be written
Economics of submarine communications cables
- national telco partnerships
- opening to third parties
- indefeasible rights of use (IRUs)
- venture capital
- boom and bust
- FLAG , Project Oxygen
- exponential rise in capacity over time makes value of IRUs implode
to be written
Owners and operators of submarine communications cables
to be written
Owners and operators of cable-laying ships
See also
External links
Last updated: 08-26-2005 14:05:04
